Picture File: Dr Nandipha Magudumana (dressed in a white hoodie) appears before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court along with her co-accused in the Thabo Bester prison escape saga. Photo: Twitter/ @tshepisolelakah
As Women’s Month draws to a close, public relations practitioners have gone into overdrive to get some last-minute media exposure for their clients, flooding newsrooms with press releases about women entrepreneurs, gender-based violence, the need for more women in senior positions and more.
What we did not expect was a press release from the girlfriend of convicted Facebook rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, Nandipha Magudumana.
The former doctor – who is currently behind bars – starts off by saying how she is reminded of the struggles women in our country face as Women’s Month comes to an end.
Without further ado, she then launches into her very own list of all the painful times and experiences she has had to endure, as well as “the events which transpired in Tanzania”.
Not a word about what her boyfriend did to women, but if you remember how the two of them cosied up to each other in court the other day, it is no wonder.
She promises to soon give us deeper insight on, among other things, her painful experience at the correctional facility, including the plight of women inmates and the violation of their human rights.
While there is no doubt that our jails are terrible, who is Magudumana to talk about the human rights of women?
Where was she when her boyfriend violated the human rights of the women he raped and killed? What about their human rights? He raped two models and murdered his girlfriend, Nomfundo Tiyhulu.
ALSO READ: Dr Nandipha: ‘I suffered abuse at the hands of those occupying highest govt offices’
She also threatens to spill the beans on the physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of “powerful men”, including some of the most prominent families in South Africa from the highest office in government and business.
It is not unlikely that this happened to her, but again: Why choose someone who did the same to women? Or is this just an idle threat?
Magudumana also has a message for people who want to make a movie about her: If she is not in it, do not believe what it says. Her lawyers are even finalising paperwork for the exclusive rights to her story. She now wants to profit from her alleged crimes?
Is that why she was all dressed up with perfect hair and makeup in court? To play in her own movie? The mind boggles.
She says she is convinced there is a reason and a purpose for everything. This time she gets it right. She is in jail because she is suspected of committing a crime. That is the purpose of her “illegal incarceration”.
And then she remembers her children whom she loves so much. Why did she leave them in the first place to go with Bester? Hopefully South Africans will see through this ploy to make it all about her.
Say their names, Nandipha. Say their names.
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